Vista of Mānoa Valley neighborhood
UH West Oʻahu faculty Peiyong “Patricia” Yu and Jason Levy are presenting rail-related papers at the 2016 Hawaii Economic Association Conference entitled “Hawaiʻi’s Cost of Living and Real Estate” at the Halekulani Hotel on Friday, Oct. 7.
Dr. Yu and Dr. Levy will speak on a panel dealing with Living Costs and Real Estate Valuations in Hawaiʻi. Dr. Yu, an instructor of economics at UH West Oʻahu, is presenting on “Estimating the Value of the Honolulu Rail Transit Project: A Semiparametric Analysis of Property Values on Oʻahu, HI.” She will discuss how ordinary least squares, fixed effects, and semiparametric regression models are used to examine the impact of the Honolulu Rail Transit project on both the single family housing and condo markets after its groundbreaking occurred in Feb. 2011. Mixed effects were shown for the six specific study areas considered on Oʻahu: Ewa, Honolulu, Kapolei, Mililani, Pearl City and Waipahu.
Dr. Levy, an associate professor of disaster preparedness and emergency management program at UH West Oʻahu, will pose the question, “Is Rail About Transportation?” in his talk about New Urbanism and Transit Oriented Development on Oʻahu.” The potential of the Honolulu Rail Transit project to promote economic opportunities for UHWO and Leeward Oʻahu are emphasized.
They will be joined by distinguished panelists Leonid Bak and Joseph A. Roos (of the Research & Economic Analysis Division (READ) of the State of Hawaiʻi’s Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism), Paul H. Brewbaker (TZ Economics), and Mike Y. Hamasu (Colliers International, Inc.).